Wrapped in Quilted Love

It was another age; another time. Grandma Rosa lived in the house I now call home and created beautiful but useful things of fabrics that caught her eye and fabrics she had stashed - edges of mostly-worn cotton sheets, 1930s feed sacks, cast-off and worn shirts and dresses, and trimmings from other sewing projects. She died when I was 19, and one of the last things she asked me to do was to finish a tablecloth she had barely started, using circles of fabric remnants placed in threaded squares. "Your Momma's busy and won't have time to finish it," she said to me. "You can do that."

So I threaded a needle with the orange cotton from Grandma's sewing machine drawer and carefully embroidered a blanket stitch around circles and more circles until her pretty tablecloth was complete. My stitches looked so unpracticed next to hers, but I loved the fact that we had in a way created that tablecloth together. I remember fingering the little fabric pieces, choosing colors and designs that appealed to me because of the memories they invoked and because they looked just right in their places on the cloth.

Forty years later, nearly 700 fabric circles remained in the box my mother took home from Grandma's house.
Yikes.

On this past Easter Sunday, my mother gifted me and each of my five sisters with gorgeous quilts collectively created with all of Grandma's remaining fabric circles. Mom created the design herself, and signed each quilt with Grandmas Flower Garden. I know, I know, that title is actually a recognized quilt pattern, but it is the perfect name for these quilts since they contain flowers made with Grandma's fabric circles, and they were made by my mother who is now a grandmother herself. ( Does that make this a double-heirloom)??

So many of the fabric circles included in my quilt have precious memories associated with them, and if you look closely you will see several that are found both on that pretty tablecloth and on the new quilt.

One of my sisters had a pair of shorts made of this fabric. I remember those butterflies! I wonder if Grandma made the shorts or if my mom or sister did and Grandma took the remnants for quilting? I'll have to ask.

Grandma Rosa both made and wore aprons. This fabric made its debut as an apron and other bits of it were incorporated into other quilts she created as well as that tablecloth and now this quilt.

My favorite circle of all is this pretty piece. It brings back a lot of memories of Grandma, and it is part of a very special quilt she made for me when I was about 15.

Grandma Rosa made a quilt for each of her 15 grandchildren. When I was about 14 or 15, she handed me a book of quilt patterns and asked me to pick out one that she would make into my quilt. After about 10 minutes of searching for just the right pattern, I handed the book back to her and said, "I want the Crazy Ann pattern."
She threw back her head and laughed out loud (my grandma didn't laugh out loud; it wasn't lady-like) , and said, "That fits!" She was quite tickled by my choice and then asked for my color request. A few months later she gave me this beautiful quilt and 2 pillowcases that were embroidered with blue and yellow birds.

See those tiny stitches? The fabric was cut at the Duncan Phyfe-style table in her kitchen and the pieces were sewn together on her 1920s treadle sewing machine, then quilted by hand while stretched on a homemade quilting frame that just fit into her living room. Look at those tiny stitches!

Times have changed a bit. My mother quilted our blankets with her computerized sewing machine - it would have taken her a very long time to hand-quilt them; think of all those circles! One thing has not changed however:
When you wrap yourself in a hand-made quilt, you wrap yourself in the love of the person who cared enough to make it.

Thank you, Grandma.
Thank you, Mom.
I feel very loved.
And I love you back.